Steffen Abel - University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Professor: Steffen Abel

Department: Biology

College: University of California Davis, Davis, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

His lectures can be overwhelming at times, mainly due to the fact that he honestly tries to answer questions to the best of his abilities. BIS103 is an inherently difficult class, but Abel does try to break it down to its basic components and showing the relations between the cycles. Try not to brute force the stuff by straight memorization.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

At the beggining of the quarter I didnt have much faith with this class for the things I had heard...but by the middle of the quarter, I realized that he is actually not that bad..and by the end..it wasnt boring at all to study for this class..he didnt mind going to his office hours way earlier and staying afterwards too..and he is pretty cool too!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This class is really hard unless you love Biochem. Tons of memorization, the material is boring, etc. The professor, on the other hand, does the best he can do with such dry material. He's helpful, kind, and writes fair tests. He has some interesting and funny parts of his lecture. Know the Midterm/Final Essentials lists forwards and backwards.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Despite all the bad comments, I really think he is a great teacher. He explaines materials clearly, although lots of times too rushed. The materials itself is hard, so attending classes, listening to podcasts are mandatory. Midterms and finals are doable. Study and really understand his slides, youll do well. BIS 103 is one of my fav classes, g luc

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof Abel is a great professor! I don't know why he got so many poor reviews on here, but the fact that there's a lot of memorization is a given--all bis 103 classes are like that, you can't blame the prof for it. He made the class fun by making jokes putting up funny pictures.Class isn't THAT hard. Just go to lecture and read. OH are helpful!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is a great prof! The class itself is prbly the most challenging class at davis, students who blame the prof are just ignorant and prbly didnt study. Study all his booklet material and go to OH. You will do fine :)

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lord save my GPA before I apply to professional school

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This class was challenging but not difficult..he teaches us a lot of biological tools that nature has designed. To all the kids complaining how much memorization there is for this class,is actually not that hard,is just like ochem except these structures have functions,all you need to know is the precursor and whats being added you'll know the rest

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The class was very difficult mainly because there are so much to know in so little time. I agree that there should have been less concepts to cover because I felt like the lectures were a bit rushed and there were so much concepts to cover that it was hard to internalize the ideas and memorize the structures.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's alright and pretty funny at times. I think he is very approachable and helpful in OH. Always go to class because podcasts are not that helpful. First midterm was easy, the second more difficult and the final is ok. He curves the grades. Overall, he was a good professor.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

hard class, a lot of things to memorize in a short amount of time. know concepts. not sure what the best way to study is: i studied a lot and still got bad results =(

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Really knew his chemistry, but really underemphasized the biology involved in metabolism. Heavily emphasized structures of intermediates, like its of any use to anyone, ever. Smart guy, but should have gone more in depth on fewer topics instead of trying to teach EVERY INTERMEDIATE TO EVERY MACROMOLECULE EVER.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Did not like this class at all.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

OMG where to start... this class is like a memorization test. You memorize every like 90% of the stuff in his booklet. I had other memorization classes (biology) before but this one is by far the most intense one. It is kinda unfair for those who dont have his old exams since he used quite a bit of questions from the old exams.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

One day, he showed us a picture of a Nobel prize winner and encouraged us to try to win the award in the future. He should try to win a Nobel prize before he encourages his students.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Memorize material from lectures. Does reuse questions from old exams. Funny at times.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This class requires a whole lot of memorizing. He has a tendency to recycle exam questions so try to get ahold of them. His final was horrible. I didn't know what I was doing. Almost all of the questions were new to me. Study and memorize the material covered in lecture immediately after lecture. Don't wait, or you'll be way the hell behind.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: BIS104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Funny guy but has a thick accent. I was doing okay by studying old midterms and memorizing a the important cycles. The unforgiving final caused dropped me one letter grade down. Class wasn't helpful since he just goes through slides, when you should really just be memorizing everything at home/; library! This class is like a worse version of ochem.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He has the coolest accent and is funny. He's not hard, the class is. BIS 103 is a very difficult class especially if you do not like Biochemistry. His midterms weren't bad but his final was difficult because everybody did well on the midterms. Funny guy

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BIS103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

For the most part, he's pretty fair with the midterms. Study the old midterms (04, 05, 07) and you'll see similar questions. However, the final was killer. nothing like the practice exam and his "essentials" were not too helpful. didn't even need a lot of the new material. i wouldn't recommend this professor.